The Next Dimension
by Deanna Janeway
Summary: A ship of accomplished young cadets mentored by Icheb takes a turn for the worst. R R


Star Trek: The Next Dimension

Episode One: The First Voyage

"This is Captain Luke N. Patterson. Stand down immediately, or we will be forced to fire." He stood tall, just in front of the Captain's chair of the USS Genesis. He was talking to an alien species on the view screen, and without the universal translator, all I would have heard wold be gibberish, seeing as he's a Betazoid. We were all junior officers, except for our 'mentor', as Starfleet put it. Starfleet had gathered us straight out of the academy, and stuck us on this ship for a contract of ten years. All of us are only seventeen or eighteen, so that's almost a half of our life so far. Starfleet had mentioned when we left that this would be a cargo ship, and that basically we were going to deliver things for ten years. What they had forgotten to mention, however, was that the first lot of cargo we delivered was dangerous. And when fired upon, would have disastrous consequences.

They had given us a box. A metal box and what was in it nobody knew. Only the person who sent it and the person who wanted it. We were on route to the Anari home world to drop off the package, when a Ferengi trader had stopped us.

"Prepare to be boarded," They had said, and we refused. Sooner than later, their little misunderstanding of Starfleet protocol started a phaser battle between the two ships. Our ship is small, with only three decks, and only enough room for a crew of ten. But, hiding on our camouflaged exterior are six phaser banks, and two deflector dishes. To say the least, we were well equipped. The other ship, however, wasn't streamlined at all, but a box with engines. It looked rather like a bunch of junk strung together and held with rope. It didn't have very good weapons either, or so we were told by the tactical officer.

So then they fired on us, and we fired back and now Captain Patterson, a Betazoid about seventeen years old, is trying to reason with them.

"No! We want that cargo!" A creepy Ferengi voice said through the speakers.

"I can't allow that." Luke said, confidence pouring out of him. He was so charismatic.

"Hand over the cargo, no questions asked, and we'll be on our way. " The Ferengi tried to barter with us. "Or we could fire on you again."

"You're outmatched." Captain Luke shot back. "Go on your way or we'll fire on _you._" He paused to let them think for a second, and then said, "You have five seconds to leave. End transmission." He turned towards us and the view screen showed the space in front of us, dotted with stars, and stained with an ugly Ferengi ship.

"Whatever we're holding must be important," The Conn officer said from behind us. I was sitting in the first officer's chair, next to Luke in the Captain's chair.

"They're charging weapons," Our tactical officer informed us, also from behind. "Captain?"

Luke's brow furrowed for a minute, trying to figure out why the Ferengi wanted our cargo. Apart from the obvious trading reasons, the Ferengi might have known that it was important. Maybe.

Suddenly, a green light shot from the Ferengi trader and hit the Genesis. The deck shifted, and if it weren't for our newly installed seatbelts, we would have all gone flying. "Shields down to 96%," The tactical officer called, hanging onto his console.

Luke turned in his seat towards the officer. "Buckle up ensign; we don't want to lose you." He nodded and then turned back to face the front, and the view screen showed that the Ferengi ship was again charging their weapons.

"Evasive manoeuvres!" The Captain shouted, gripping the armrests of his seat. But, it was too late, before our Helmsman, Kovaru, could reach for the controlling joy stick; another phaser fire hit our ship, this time purple.

A white purple light spread out through the bridge and shrouded our eyes in a veil of blindness. Searing pain attacked the muscles in my eyes, and my hands shot up to cover them. I felt the deck shift again, and heard one of the ensigns from behind us fall over. A high-pitched screeching noise penetrated the air, and then, all was silent. And all were unconscious.

I dreamt a dream of vivid colours and sounds. A dream so amazing, it could have been real. I dreamt that I was back home on Earth, in the small house that my family owned. It was a good dream, filled of the smell of cookies and freshly baked pastries.

"Juliette?" I heard my name. For a second, I thought I was actually in France, and that it was my parents who had called my name. Then I remembered that I had gone through Starfleet. "Juliette?" The call sounded more worried this time, and I could feel a hand gripping my shoulder.

My eyelids flickered open and I found that I had passed out in my chair, slumping to the side. I looked up and found Luke's hand on my shoulder. He was looking at me with intense black eyes.

"Are you ok?" He asked, concern evident in his expression.

"Uh," I sat up straight and looked around dazedly. "Yeah. I'm ok." He nodded quickly and went to kneel by an ensign who had fallen to the ground. "What happened?" I asked, as I undid my seatbelt and walked around towards him.

"Well, I'm not really sure." He frowned as he bandaged a cut on the ensign's forehead. "The Ferengi ship attacked us, and when we all woke up, they were gone." He squeezed the ensign's shoulder and the poor boys eyes opened slowly. "Name and rank," The Captain asked, checking for brain damage without the use of a medical tricorder.

"Ensign Garrett Addler, Tactical Officer," The young man said slowly, looking around him as though confused. Luke smiled and nodded, and then pulled the ensign into an upright position.

"Good to see you, Gates," Luke said happily, patting his friend on the shoulder. He made sure Gates was ok, then went around asking the various crewmembers if they were alright and what had they hurt.

The doors to the bridge swished open and our mentor walked in, bending down slightly in the doorway so he didn't hit his head. "What was that?" He asked, tilting his head slightly, and looking at us all in turn. His name was Icheb, and I heard that he had come from a troubled background. Apparently, his parents had tried to feed him to the Borg, but it didn't work, and now he has the scars, and the cybernetic implants, to prove it.

"We're not quite sure…" Lucas said hesitantly, obviously knowing his place.

"Were we just hit with a multi-phasic ultraviolet phaser array?" Icheb asked, speaking quickly but carefully.

Gates was at his post by now, Tactical, so he ran his fingers across the sensor readings and then looked up at us. "Yes, sir."

Icheb's face gave away his feelings, which I could see were rubbing off on Captain Luke, the Betazoid. They both frowned simultaneously, and everybody else looked on wide-eyed.

"If they hit our cargo with that specific weapon, then…" He trailed off, looking distantly out the view screen.

"Ensign Addler, did the Ferengi hit the cargo?" Captain Luke said. His words were rushed and urgent.

The crewman looked down at his console and tapped the screen a few times. "Yes sir. They aimed and hit their target."

Icheb's face turned to a look of horror, and he bolted out of the room, with Captain Patterson following. I tagged along behind. Icheb ran towards the turbolift, and when we were all inside, he ordered the computer to take us to deck 2, where the cargo bay was. "What is it, sir?" I asked, following quickly behind him. Our feet hit the floor sharply and dull thuds resounded throughout the deck.

"The cargo…" Icheb tried to explain. "If it was hit…"

Just then, we reached the doors of the cargo bay and they slid open automatically. Icheb rushed over to the small metal box that lay in the middle of the hold. Before now, I hadn't noticed that there was a pin pad on the side of the box, and a finger print scanner. Icheb swiped his finger quickly, and then punched in a seven digit number. The clasp on the box popped open with a click. Icheb, who had been kneeling, sat back on his heels, and his hands fell to his lap in a defeated gesture. He shook his head slowly, almost rhythmically.

"What is it, Icheb?" Luke asked, looking at how deflated our mentor seemed to be.

Icheb looked up at us slowly, and then began to explain. "This box, your package, was a prototype of a device that would allow inter-dimensional travel. It usually has a safeguard, so that it doesn't transport its ship randomly, but the guard was short circuited when it was hit by the multi-phasic ultraviolet phaser array. It's been activated." He looked down at his hands and sighed. Obviously he was disappointed with himself. It was his first time on a starship since Voyager had come back, and also his first time as a mentor, and already something had gone wrong. "It hasn't been tested yet." He said, and shut his eyes, squeezing his nose between a thumb and forefinger. "Which means," He continued, looking up at us with a new sense of urgency. "That we could theoretically be in any dimension."

He gazed at us as our jaws dropped. Slowly, he stood, closing the lid of the small box on his way, and picking it up. It was briefcase sized, and probably weighed a ton, but Icheb has superior strength and abilities, so he made it look like he was lifting a picnic basket. He turned towards us and some light from the hallway glinted off of the metal of the box. "I may be your mentor, but I was only assigned this position a few days ago, and therefore I am not completely certain of the layout of this ship. Do we have an astrometrics lab?" He tilted his head to the side questioningly.

"Um, no." Captain Patterson said. "What I meant to say is, we don't have a specific lab for astrometrics. But we do have a science lab," He smiled, proud of the ship that he was captaining, small as it may be.

"Well, I need to go there." Icheb said matter-of-factly. "Lucas, can you take me there?" He looked towards Luke with a sad expression on his face.

"Yeah, sure." Luke said, looking towards the doorway. "Follow me." And off they went.

I walked out of the cargo bay, hearing the doors swish closed behind me. As I headed back to the bridge, the enormity of what had just happened fell on top of me. We could have been pulled into a different dimension! If what Icheb says is true, which it probably is, then chances are we have been. I'm only seventeen. I might never see my parents again. Or my home in France. I will never have the chance to explore, or to boldly go where no one has gone before. A tear rolled down my cheek as I thought about all the things I would miss.

The doors to the bridge opened up and I walked to my chair, my chin up. Everyone was silent. Ensign Addler came and stood by my chair. He put a hand on my shoulder and said, in a Southern American drawl, "Whatever it is, we're here for ya." I nodded my head and wiped another tear from my face. I don't know what the protocol is for information like that, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Captain Patterson to Lieutenant Spencer." That was me. My full name is Juliette Spencer, but I ask my friends to call me Jules.

"Spencer here Captain." I responded, still sitting in my chair on the bridge.

"Report to the Science lab immediately." He paused, making sure I had time enough to stand up. "Captain out."

I rushed down to the science lab, which was on the second deck. I hadn't been in there before, so it was a shock when I entered the room. It was a fairly large area, about as big as the bridge. It was doused in ambient blue light and it smelled like disinfectant. Strange equipment and glass containers lined the walls, and cabinets full with what I assumed to be hyposprays, petri dishes, and other science-related objects. Plants and liquids were suspended in tanks and dishes, and dripping noises came from large machinery. Icheb was standing over a console, deviously tapping away, while Captain Patterson looked over his shoulder.

As soon as I walked in, both of them looked up and Luke smiled. "We need you to check these readings. I know you specialized in science at the academy." Luke looked at me and then at the console over Icheb's shoulder. I walked over and looked over Icheb's other shoulder.

The graph on the screen showed the sensor readings from the last 24 hours. The first half of the graph looked normal, but then in the second half everything spiked. Especially the carbon dioxide and Nitrogen readings, which were almost off the chart.

"Based on this reading, I'd say we've definitely moved to a different dimension. Or at least to a different quadrant." I paused and looked at Icheb, willing him to clarify what they wanted me to do.

"Exactly my assumption." Icheb said, proud that he had shared the same findings. "But based on these readings, do you believe we are in a familiar dimension, or one unknown to us?" He raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"I think that… based on _these _readings… That we are in a familiar dimension, but in the past." I paused and thought about all I knew about the past. "Maybe… the middle of the 23rd century?"

"Precisely," Icheb said, staring at the console.

"We just wanted to make sure we were right." Luke said, still looking at the chart.

"Captain, you're needed on the bridge." A tinny voice called out of his comm badge. Captain Patterson looked at the console for a second more and then turned and left, with me trailing behind.

When we got to the bridge, the view screen was on, and it showed a different, but vaguely familiar face.

"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise." The figure on the view screen said. It was true. I had seen his face in the history books at the academy. They referenced him constantly when they told about how they had to change the test. By the test, I mean the Kobiashi Maru, the hardest test at the academy. It was unwinnable. Except for Captain Kirk, so the academy had to change it.

"Good evening, sir. This is Captain Luke N. Patterson from the Federation starship Genesis." Luke stood casually in front of the captain's chair, the embodiment of calm.

"I don't recall there being a USS Genesis." Captain Kirk looked us over one by one. The look on his face changed from confusion to curiosity. "Say, why are all of you so young?" He pointed through the screen playfully.

"Sir, it would be an honour if we could talk in person." Luke said, inviting the famous Captain Kirk to our humble ship.

"Certainly. Be ready to accept me and Mr Spock within the hour." He winked and then the view screen turned off, showing us the stars ahead.

"Was that for my benefit?" I asked, being the only female in the room.

"Either that or he could see his reflection," Ensign Addler said from the back of the room. In the future, or the present to us, everybody knew about how self-centred Kirk was. It was practically in our history books.

"Do we have transporters?" Luke asked the Vulcan sitting at the science station.

"Yes sir. Fully functional site to site transporters only." He looked at Luke with an air of superiority.

"Ensign, what's your name?" the Captain asked, pulling a hand through his dark brown hair.

"Ensign Siza." The Vulcan nodded, silently communicating that he was done with this conversation.

Luke nodded and then turned back towards the front of the room. He stood up slowly, and pulled his shirt down professionally. "If you need me," He said, while looking towards me. "Then I'll be in my ready room." He walked towards his ready room doors and they swished shut behind him.

I sat in my chair and pondered. Stars were floating by on the view screen, and little ships were rushing to and fro across the vast emptiness of space. They looked ancient, and to me, and everybody else on this ship, they were. We were from 2387, or stardate 64000. It was approximately nine years after Voyager returned. Captain Kirk had been dead for a century, or more. All of this had been destroyed and used to build other ships. What I was seeing was interesting. And Captain Kirk looked different to what I remembered. He looked… younger somehow.


End file.
